NXT

[Oliver]

I like GYV. I don't love them, but I like them. I feel like they're one great match away from being 'made', if you like, in my book, but aren't quite there yet.

I'm also in a weird spot with Johnny Gargano, in that I think he's playing his role right now perfectly, but it's really, really goofy at the same time. It's bordering on being a Chris Jericho 'conspiracy victim' but is one beat off being perfect in the way that was. I mean, I'm still yet to see a Johnny Gargano match I've really, really loved and haven't thought was overdone since he was in DIY, but I could really love this character if it doesn't go too goofy. I mean, maybe I'm misremembering the conspiracy victim stuff, because it obviously had that goofy side to it, and as it's Jericho I can't imagine that everything about it wasn't turned up to 11, but I always look back at that and my memory of it is that everything had a really good streak of seriousness behind it. Part of me feel like Gargano is nodding and winking behind it all, which kind of detracts just a pace for me.

EDIT: With Grimes, Powder, I think he's OK. I'm not fussed about his gimmick, nor was I fussed about his previous gimmick. I think he's got everything to be a good midcard player - and WWE need good midcard players across the board - but possibly little more. The thing he seems to be most known for before coming to NXT was essentially having long matches for CWF.

[PEN15v2]

GYV have a great aura to them, and carry themselves perfectly. The issue is they are another Revival team: basically no real characters, just annoying twats who can wrestle. Nothing wrong with that, but it feels like something is lacking to really put them on the map.

Gargano is also an annoying twat, but I don't root for the person he's against. It's more go-away" heat from me. I can't put my finger on it, but this just isn't working for me.

As for a great Gargano match, vs Almas for the NXT title. LOVE that match.

[Powder]

Going back to Grimes.....

I understand that not everyone will become a top champion. Not everyone will be a main eventer, but isn't that the goal of everyone who gets into wrestling? To be the top (WWE) champion? If not then there are much easier and safer ways to earn a living.

With that said, Grimes' initial NXT character had no chance of being a top champion, and now with this Redneck Millionaire gimmick, even less. It was terrible. I know the every promotion needs good hands, and they needs people to make others look good, which Grimes can. With his ability, he could go further up the food chain if he was able to truly re-invent himself.

With any version of this gimmick, no promotion will make him a top champion. If he left fr Impact or AEW, they would not put him near the top titles as he is a joke. Not a good comedy act, but a joke. Truth is a great comedy act (24/7 champ is wearing thin - but still a great comedy act). Santino was a great comedy act. Grimes is just sad and grasping at straws, and trying to use a flash in the pan fad to make his character evolve, which failed.

My suggestion, cut the hair, tidy up the beard, shave the chest and become something new. And lose "to the moooooon". I will never see that as a great catchphrase.

[Oliver]

Was Cameron Grimes not somewhere in and around the world title picture in Impact previously? Or was he an X Division guy?

[Powder]

No idea...never watched Impact, and what kind of gimmick did he have there? Similar to this rednick?

[Team Farrell]

Gargano is also an annoying twat, but I don't root for the person he's against. It's more go-away" heat from me. I can't put my finger on it, but this just isn't working for me.

As for a great Gargano match, vs Almas for the NXT title. LOVE that match.

He's just superbly boring. He's a guy who can do the moves, and he's in good shape, but he's so tiny and there's just nothing behind his eyes. No emotion one way or another. And if he doesn't seem to care, why should anyone else.

He's a good example of how so many times today guys are so focused on remembering what's next in the plan of the match, that their faces don't match what their body is going through.

I understand that not everyone will become a top champion. Not everyone will be a main eventer, but isn't that the goal of everyone who gets into wrestling? To be the top (WWE) champion? If not then there are much easier and safer ways to earn a living.

Yes and no. Everyone wants to be the top guy, or they should, when they get in, and should continue to strive for that. But there should be a real and honest internal conversation that not everyone will be, and that some guys' position is to be a guy on the card contributing as opposed to the guy that sells the card.

That's the thing, it doesn't matter how talented you are. Pro wrestling isn't a meritocracy in that way. It comes down to whether or not people will part with their money to see you as the top attraction on a card. Everyone plays their role, and everyone theoretically contributes to drawing on some level, but the top Champion should be the guy you can put in the main event and have the most people want to pay the most money to either root for, or hope to see lose that belt.

Everyone breaks in with visions of main eventing WrestleMania, but there comes a time where you have to recognize what your ceiling is an decide if making a without having to have a "real" job is worth it, or if you wanted to be the top guy and are looking to move on if that won't happen. I know people who have made decisions in both directions.

I have a number of guys that I book and train that when I look at, I know they're only ever going to be a guy on the card. I might be able to heat up an angle they're in and draw a house with it, but they're not going to be the guy I'm putting front and centre on the poster to sell tickets on an ongoing basis. But, I'd be happy to see them go somewhere and prove me wrong.

[Powder]

Coach, I completely agree, but if a guy who is well travelled as Grimes, and he is talented in the ring, and what he has been doing got him in the door. So why not try something new, or at least something completely different, to attempt to raise his position?

I do not like Gargano's schtick right now, but he is at least attempting something different than what he was doing last year. Grimes is going no where and nothing has changed.

[PEN15v2]

Here's your problem: you're assuming your opinion is fact and shared by everyone. I don't read many reviews, but all of them other than yours enjoyed Grimes last night. I loved it. The rich gimmick works most times, and this one is somewhat unique because he seems to be an idiot with his money. Reminds me of Noble and Nidia.

Once again, you are comparing WWE to another promotion. There are pros and cons to WWE highlighting the E in their name, but it means they do things differently. So you just can't compare how other people would use him differently. On top of that, would WWE hire Luchasaurus, or Pentagon, and not make changes? Of course they would.

So my suggestion: ignore what Powder says, and let Grimes be entertaining.

[Powder]

See now you are interjecting your opinion. In that you liked Grimes gimmick. The reviews I read, didn't.

[PEN15v2]

Yes, I shared my opinion. That's what these forums are for. But you are saying he needs to change because what he's doing isn't working. My point is that some people think it is working.

Here's a fair comparison. Gargano isn't working for me, but I recognize that his act is popular. So I'm not suggesting an overhaul just to please me. I get it, it's a good act for some, but I'm not one of them. So I'll accept it.

You instead dictate that Grimes must change. It's nonsense.

[Team Farrell]

Coach, I completely agree, but if a guy who is well travelled as Grimes, and he is talented in the ring, and what he has been doing got him in the door. So why not try something new, or at least something completely different, to attempt to raise his position?

I do not like Gargano's schtick right now, but he is at least attempting something different than what he was doing last year. Grimes is going no where and nothing has changed.

I guess it depends on where they see his ceiling. If they see his ceiling, regardless of what roster they book him on, as roughly where he's at then I don't know why you'd take the time to try and push him past that.

I'm not sure what I think his ceiling is, personally. I like him in general, but he does come across as a little bit "playing wrestler" for me at times. He's got some alright size to him. Enough to be legitimate against larger opponents. He's charismatic. And he can cut a promo, but I do wish he'd dial it back a notch sometimes.

I definitely wouldn't want to see them change his look too much, because it's really the thing about him that stands out so much.

I haven't seen NXT, but I like the concept of the gimmick. It's plausible and using something that's currently in the news, while setting up kind of a Brewster's Millions/Trading Places thing where he's spending frivolously because he's a redneck that's never had money before and doesn't know what to do with it. That would set up the obvious where either a smarter heel takes advantage of him as a babyface, or his head gets too big as a heel and he quits his contract but loses it all and has to start from the very bottom again.

It could be a good way to rebuild a guy that they pushed hard and then used to put other people over.

It's not a main event gimmick (probably, DiBiase made it a main event gimmick) but I think it fits well with what's probably his ceiling in the company.

[comfortablynumb]

I think most wrestlers’ goal is to make a good living doing something they love and although most want to be a top guy, many realize it ain’t happening for one reason or another. So what do you do? You find a place on the card where the company can use you that suits your talents so you can make that living. It’s like a marginal NHL player carving out a role for himself as a penalty killer/fourth liner.

I wasn’t a fan of Grimes but he sold me during that haunted house match. He was hilarious.

[Team Farrell]

I just finished NXT and Jesus was that segment with Grimes great! It was the only thing with any feeling on the show. This whole damn thing from the moment he pulled up in the car could have been on a studio show in 1976 and fit right in. Classic pro wrestling absurdity.

[Oliver]

Watching it again today, the Grimes thing reminds me of the old CJ Parker hippy gimmick, which I thought was outstanding, on the nose, and right of its time when he was doing it - 2013 or so, climate change was developing into a bigger issue than it perhaps had been previously, and they captured something. Grimes linking this character to the whole Gamestop thing drops it right into modern culture, and it doesn't really feel like it's too much of a stretch for someone to have come into that money and suddenly switch gears to rub it in people's faces.

Obviously, it's dialled up to 11, but that's pro wrestling for you.

It's not necessarily a main event gimmick, as others have point out, but it's a good bit of character development for Grimes from where he was.

[Team Farrell]

Yeah, this isn't going to make him World Heavyweight Champion, but it makes him memorable.

It's plausible (but turned up to 11 like you said): he became obsessed with video games while he was on the shelf, "discovered" Game Stop and decided to invest some money into them because this naïve hick wanted to own a piece of that wonderful place that gave him his games. Then the Reddit stuff happened and he got lucky.

It's one of those things where it fits in with what's in the news today, but a year from now when it's been established, all a new viewer needs to know is that he got lucky in the stock market and you don't have to worry about the outdated pop culture reference.

I like that it's kind of that "fish out of water" thing. He rolls up in a Lamborghini that he refers to as a "space ship", and has no understanding of why he's rich, just that it happened. "I didn't even know they made money for dogs, but I bought some of that too" is wonderful.

It's the perfect pro wrestling pop culture reference. (And this applies to "inside" or behind the scenes references, too.) If you've followed the Game Stop stuff, it makes perfect sense. If you're just tangentially aware, it makes sense. If you have no idea, the guy made a lucky investment and that happens sometimes. Those in the know, know and those who don't aren't confused by it.

Plus, and I can't stress this enough, that was the only segment in two hours of television that felt like the guy in it fully bought in and was giving 100% of himself to it. It didn't feel like an act, it didn't feel like he was doing something he was told to do. And it felt like a person reacting in the way that the person we have established him to be would react to something.

Was it silly? Without a doubt. Was it over the top? Completely. But it was the type of absurdity that is so traditionally pro wrestling that I can't say enough good about it.